Installing Microsoft Network Client 3.0

Introduction

This guide will provide you step-by-step instructions for installing Microsoft Network Client 3.0 on your computer. One of the objectives of the MCSE exams is to perform an unattended installation of Windows 2000 Server, with one of the sub-objectives being to be able to perform such an installation using distribution files located on the network. From my studying of books and websites, I have found that whenever the subject of network installation arises, specific instructions are not given. For example, on page 89 of Sybex's "Windows 2000 Server Study Guide", the authors state that "the target computer must be able to connect to the distribution server over the network," yet she does not mention how to do so. Now, I must clarify that on any regular Windows computer, connecting to a shared file or folder is as simple as typing in the UNC name, but what we are interested in here is a clean unattended installation of Windows 2000. If we wanted to install Windows 2000 strictly over the network, we would not install Windows 95 on it first just so we could access the distribution share, for that would be time-consuming and not a clean-install. We could boot from a PXE network card to start installation, but not all cards are supported. What we need is a simple way to access a network share point from DOS. Perhaps most people studying for the MCSE already know how to do this, judging from the lack of documentation on this subject. I surely do not, which is why I am writing this guide.